Ruby's house was a cozy place, with the main hall that you entered from the front door. There were two rooms on each side of the hall, and on the opposite side of the hall were stairs leading up. There Penny could count at least 4 doors, although there could be more, she wasn't sure.
Penny was lead into one of the rooms on the ground floor, which seemed to be a living room. With a coffee table, couch, and some various chairs in the center. Medium-sized tv and a bunch of other things that were less important.
"Are we going to your room now?" This question from Penny made Ruby freeze on the spot.
"What? No! No, we'll study here. I... Well, my room is off-limits." The dark-haired girl rubbed her neck. "N-Not specifically for you! It's uh, off-limit for everyone."
While initially disappointed, Penny quickly found this concept fascinating. "You really don't let anyone inside?"
"Huh? Oh, nope! Nobody has access. It's my kingdom!" Ruby announced proudly and puffed her chest.
"I never had a room where I wouldn't let anyone in." Penny cleared her throat. "Whenever I tried to be secretive I had someone talk to me if I am doing alright. Other people get worried when I grow too quiet, so I decided it was not the correct choice of action to remain secretive as to not worry people around me."
Scratching her head, Ruby just stood there with an expression that was hard for Penny to read. As the silence remained Penny wanted to ask if something was wrong, but Ruby voiced her thoughts before Penny could ask. "You know what? I'm relieved to know that your folks care about you. I won't lie, I was afraid that you were... You know, brushed to the side or something."
"Oh, no! My grandfather took good care of me, but he is always very busy." Penny smiled as she explained. "It was a secret only for myself, but I choose this school so that I could..." Penny paused, not sure how to continue that line of thoughts. Clearing her throat, she decided to rephrase that. "Back home everyone was always helping me and assisting me. While I was grateful for that it just felt tiring at times and I wanted to..." Once more, she wasn't sure what to say. What did she want to do?
"Decide for yourself?" Ruby suggested curiously.
"Yes I... I think that is what I wanted. To decide what to wear in the morning, what to eat and when to eat it. When to study and how to plan out my day." Even if Penny disliked change, the fact that she could create her own mundane routine was the reason why she was here in the first place. Thought that brought a frown on Penny's brow. Why did she open up to Ruby so casually?
"Often caged birds sing the saddest song... Or something like that, ugh, don't tell anyone I said that." Ruby grimaced at her own words.
Penny giggled at the girl's reaction. "I also think that my grandfather was too worried about me while I lived with him, it distracted him."
"Living far away from him doesn't worry him? I'd think that's a lot more reasons to worry about you." At Ruby's question, Penny shook her head.
"While perhaps it is worrying since he can't check up on me whenever he wants, we have video calls whenever he can. I am also under the personal care of his friend. She's my caretaker in a way."
"Isn't it the same thing? You being under someone else care again?" Ruby asked, being quite curious about this now.
"Oh no, while she helped me plenty at first, she slowly retreated herself from my life, while making sure I knew she would be there whenever I needed help. In a way, I think she understood why I wanted to come here in the first place." Penny smiled, wondering if her grandfather knew as well and that's why he asked her to help her.
"Sounds like you got what you wanted." Ruby stood up and stretched. "Anyway, enough of these deep personal talks, how about I bring us some snacks and we start with this math torture?"
Penny's eyes grew at that. "Snacks?" They would have sweets while doing mathematics?
"Uh, yeah, you know, some cookies or chips or something? Personally, I'd go with cookies but hey! You're my guest, so you can choose." Ruby paused near the doorway as she waited for the final decision.
"Cookies? With chocolate bits? And with milk?" It was perhaps ages since Penny had that. It was something she loved when she was much younger, and as she grew up, she rarely wanted to bother people with it, as it seemed like such a... Petty thing to ask for, in a way. Since she got here she thought about getting that, but for whatever reason, it didn't feel right to just eat them alone in her dorm room. But right now she wasn't just sitting by herself in an empty room. This was a special event, one where she was visiting... Well... A friend. Someone who claimed to be her friend.
Ruby giggled at that. "Coming right up." After which she disappeared, as she headed to the kitchen. Or wherever they kept milk and cookies, Penny wasn't sure. Still, she smiled, excited at the prospect.
oooOOOooo
While initially distracted by a lot of things, it didn't take long for Penny to get fully focused on the textbooks before them. No matter what, numbers and mathematics were her most beloved subject and even in this situation she could just jump in and stay forever among all those equations. As for Ruby... Things weren't as fun for her. Penny quickly discovered that her mathematics problem was rooted in the fact that she didn't grasp the most basic things. The fundamentals on which the more advanced things stood.
This wasn't rare of course, math was simple once you followed patterns, and more often than not people had problems with math because they had some kind of hole in their knowledge about the basic things. Like a tree that has its roots sick. Or a house with faulty... Well, fundaments. It didn't matter how much she would try to fix the tree on the surface, or how much she would paint the house, since if the roots remained sick or the fundaments weren't taken care of, it would all sooner or later crumble, making both her and the person trying to learn effort pointless.
Luckily for Ruby, the math teacher they had to share, caught up to it pretty quickly, so there was quite enough time to fix it. In the end, it was Ruby who would decide if she had the will to work through her issues. Which was something she wasn't sure about, as it really did seem that numbers were physically hurting the dark-haired girl. Or perhaps it was her exaggerating for the show?
Someone opening the front door made them both pause, while Ruby just raised her eyes to glance towards the hall leading from the front door, Penny felt a tiny wave of fear wash over her. Of course, other people would live here, yet she didn't know that she would have to meet them. Not that she did mind. What if they wouldn't like her? And thus that would make her and Ruby's friendly relationship end? She had to make her best effort to not make a fool of herself.
"Dad?" Ruby yelled after briefly glancing at a clock that hung at one of the walls.
"Are we having a guest?" Was the response, as a blonde man peeked into the room. He squinted his eyes as he scanned Penny for a brief moment, only to smile and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I was about to go grab my shotgun if it was a boy sitting this close to you." The man said as he presumably left the room, and from the sound of it, had to enter the kitchen which as Penny learned, was just in the opposite room from the one they were currently in.
"You don't have a shotgun, you don't even know how to shoot a gun!" Ruby yelled after him as she rolled her eyes. Was this... Conversation between them? Yelling across the whole house?
"I'd learn how to and get one if found you on that couch with a boy sitting this close!" There was a yell back, before the man simply came back, leaning against the doorway. "So what are you girls doing with all those books?"
Before Ruby could answer, Penny, sprung up, wanting to introduce herself. She already noticed that her abrupt demeanor surprised the man, which in her book was scoring a negative point. "I'm Penny and I'm here to help Ruby with mathematics. Sir." She offered a polite curtsy, too afraid to look in Ruby's dad's direction.
"You better do a good job then Penny, because Ruby knows what's going to happen if she stays behind a year." The man said in a stern tone of voice.
Penny sucked in some air at that. "Y-Yes! I will do my best sir."
After that came a chuckle. "Good to hear that, at ease soldier, and continue your work."
That just confused Penny, as she wasn't sure what to do. She glanced at Ruby, who had to read her troubled expression. "That means you can sit down now and stop worrying. My dad's just a big goof."
"Oh." Was all that Penny said as she did, in fact, sit down, glancing between the two.
"That's no way to talk about your father, especially in his presence young lady." The blonde man crossed his arms
Ruby didn't seem affected by it and once again rolled her eyes. "Can you go away so we can continue, or should I blame you for not passing my math class?"
"Fine fine, but speaking of math, stop me if you heard this one..." Before he could end his sentence, there was a pillow he had to dodge.
As Penny glanced in shock to her side, she noticed it was Ruby with her arm out, where she could only assume was a pillow just a second ago. "Dad! No!"
"But it's a good one! So, why was six afraid of seven..." The man tried to continue.
"Zwei! Dad is telling bad jokes! Go! Attack! Kill!" Ruby ordered and the small corgi dog who was laying lazily not far from them sprung up and growled, only to start barking as he charged at Ruby's dad.
"Whoa! Hey! Zwei! Sit! Down!" The man tried to calm the dog as he tried to back off from the room.
"W-Will your dad be alright?" Penny asked as the barks continued for a while. Although that stopped once whistling of a kettle could be heard for a moment. The ginger girl assumed her dad had to be fine and was simply preparing a warm drink for himself.
"Yeah, of course, he will. Zwei wouldn't harm a fly, it's just for show and in a way, for jokes." Ruby shrugged with a smile.
"I see." Penny nodded. "What was that thing he tried to say? About six being afraid of seven?"
Ruby groaned at that. "It's a stupid joke."
Penny's eyes went wide at that. "A joke about numbers? I never heard one."
"Really? You never heard why six was afraid of seven joke?" Ruby raised a brow at that. At Penny's head shake, Ruby released a deep sigh. "And you probably want to hear it huh?"
"Well if you don't want to tell it that is fine. Although I am curious, yes." Penny wasn't sure why it seemed like such an evil thing to tell a joke, but that just made her more curious if anything.
"Fine, but before I tell you the actual joke, I'm not doing this as..." Ruby paused, frowning thoughtfully. "As me telling a joke. No, I'm sharing this as a scientific phenomenon regarding bad jokes. Or something."
"Very well." Penny nodded, not sure what Ruby really meant by that but it couldn't be anything bad, right?
"Alright, so why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9." Ruby said that and... Well, nothing else came afterward.
Penny gave it a moment as if there was something additionally coming after that, but once again it was just silence and a dead-serious stare from Ruby. "I don't think I understand."
Ruby let out a sigh. "Because when you say 8 it sounds like "ate" right? So when you say it like that, 7 8 9, it sounds like 7 ate 9. So 6 is afraid of 7 because 7 ate 9 and 6 is next to 7. Or something."
Penny squinted her eyes as she slowly digested that information in her head. "Oh!" She smiled and giggled, allowing herself to outright laugh softly. "I get it! It's clever!" She clapped her hands.
Before Ruby could voice her shock, there was someone else who commented on the situation. "Finally! You brought someone who can appreciate a good joke. Now there's nothing more important in a girl than a good sense of humor, so for that alone, you have my permission to marry her." It was once more Ruby's dad, peeking in through the door.
"Dad! I swear I'll throw Zwei at you next for additional bite damage if you won't leave us alone!" Ruby yelled angrily towards the door.
"Fine! Fine, sheesh, I'm being thrown out of my own house." The man commented as he closed the door once more behind him.
"Do you... Not like your dad?" Penny asked, not sure how to read this situation.
"What? No, I love him, he's a great dad, just he's out there to humiliate both me and Yang whenever he can. And sometimes I'm not sure if he's a goof because he tries to or it's because of how he is." Ruby let out a sigh and stretched, leaning against the couch. "Don't worry we were just joking around. Well he was, I was annoyed at him for real. He always does a show whenever I bring someone new around."
"Oh, I see. I think he's... Funny." In retrospect, it was an amusing thing, besides he knew a joke about numbers and Penny didn't even know those exist.
"Ugh, just don't tell him that, he'll gloat about it for weeks." Ruby shook her head. "Let's take a few more minutes of break and get back to this math business."
"Very well." Penny smiled. This was nothing like she expected. Although she wasn't sure what to expect from this. Her image of a math session at someone's house was far more boring. It was no different than having it at the school library, just... Different environment? Yet she got accustomed to petting a cute animal, she could enjoy a snack while doing it. She also met Ruby's dad and... She assumed it went alright. He did say they could marry. Marrying someone implied you liked them, so allowing for that meant you liked the person. Although that was just another joke from him, right?
oooOOOooo
The next week was... Crazy for Penny. Well, for her standards it was crazy. They agreed to meet weekly to do the tutoring and depending on Penny's opinion they could potentially speed things up, which would mean meeting more than just once a week. But for now? Just once a week. She thought it would go back to normal after that. She got her home visit, she could count on another one and while it made her happy, it wouldn't mean much more than that. Enjoying two things she most liked, mathematics and helping others, while doing so in a cozy, friendly environment.
That... That wasn't the case. The next day Penny felt anxious and restless. She couldn't focus and her thoughts were in disarray. She forced herself to remain disciplined through the day, hoping that it would pass. To put it bluntly, it didn't. Still, Penny was a resourceful girl and since she felt restless, she decided to do something she never did before. Walk around the school between classes. Hoping that perhaps physical movement could ease this odd sensation inside of her. As such she aimlessly wandered through the halls of the school, slowly and carefully to avoid bumping into anyone or worse, anything. She was often asked if she was lost or was looking for something, mostly by teachers that passed by, which made her feel as if she was bothering people, still she continued her small journeys through the school.
It also did not prove to be effective. Yet even though she knew it wasn't, she continued to do so. Why? That was a good question. Luckily she didn't have to wait for the answer too long. It came with the realization that she wasn't really wandering around aimlessly. No, she was looking for something or rather someone. She was looking for Ruby.
Her thoughts were also lingering around topics that she now related to Ruby. Although the initial confusion was because they never really were about the girl directly. No, it was about the game she played and P.E it was about dogs, cookies, jokes. Things she never really occupied her mind with and yet her mind tried to spin around to create thoughts in regards to those topics.
It wasn't the fact that she was... For lack of a better word, obsessed with Ruby. She knew that feeling, as she often got that way towards certain topics and some people in the past. The mathematics teacher who she thought was the coolest person was one of them. This was... Different. Her thoughts spun around subjects that she learned while being around the girl. Things she never really considered before. In a way, it showed her how... Simple her life was before. Perhaps a little bit cold? A tiny bit empty? Maybe. It also scared her to go back into that state of being. That way of life.
That's why she was looking for Ruby. Part of her believed in some weird surreal idea that Ruby wasn't real. That it was all a dream. The more grounded part of her knew that Ruby was real, but it was afraid about losing her. Being forgotten. Becoming unimportant. Nothing more than a stranger, a nobody.
That's why she was looking for Ruby. To confirm being either remembered or forgotten by the other girl.
The resolution came that day, as she stumbled upon Ruby in the crowd. Perhaps stumbling upon her wasn't the best word, she merely noticed her inside said crowd as she walked with some friends. Penny wanted to call out to her, bring her attention yet she felt... Powerless. Speechless, maybe a little bit afraid.
And then it happened.
Their eyes met. Ruby noticed her and it took her less than a second to realize that, as the dark-haired girl grinned her way and raised a hand in a simple wave. It didn't last more than a moment, yet it was all that Penny needed. She wasn't forgotten.
Yet this nervous ritual would continue every day, where she would walk in search of the girl, it always ended the same way. A brief wave and a smile from the other girl. It was all to ease Penny into a calm state. To make her once again think straight and be able to focus on things.
While all this happened, she was afraid to walk over and simply say hi. To get her attention for something more than a passing greeting. Why? Because deep down she was afraid that the more she exposed herself to the girl or her friends, the more chances of alienating her. The more chances of either Ruby or her friends understanding that she was special. Different. That even if she had trust in Ruby, she knew that often circles of friends would push their opinion on anyone.
For once in her life, Penny didn't like being special.
oooOOOooo
After a full week has passed, Penny got... Used to her new reality. Maybe not completely, but it took her incredibly fast to adapt. She didn't mind, although she understood how bad it was. Perhaps she could talk about it with Ruby after some time. But the keyword was time. She wouldn't want to come off as a weirdo. Well, any more than Ruby thought she was, for sure.
But those were thoughts for a different time, as she now waited in front of the school for Ruby. It was her personal request to change the "look for me around the school" to have a place to meet up. She was glad Ruby accepted it, as it eased Penny even if a little bit.
"Hey! If it isn't my favorite Penny, you didn't wait too long I hope?" Deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice that Ruby left the building and was approaching her up till she actually called out to her.
"Ruby! Hello." Penny offered a small bow before raising a brow. "Favorite? You know more people named Penny?"
"Nope, but even if I did, it wouldn't change your top position." Ruby chuckled and grinned. "I mean it takes a certain quality for someone to have to be able to make her actually believe I can do math correctly."
"Oh, thank you. I think." Penny smiled and could feel a small blush appear on her cheeks as she was praised. In the context of the last week, it meant a lot to her.
"Now come on, no point in standing around, the school's over!" Ruby announced happily as she began to walk, turning around and making sure that Penny was following.
Occupied with having to deal with the praise, the ginger girl had to catch up with the girl to be able to walk beside her. "You really do not like school." She didn't even feel like making it a question, as considering her attitude so far was pretty clear.
"Eh, who does? I mean I can see preferring it to certain alternatives, like working, but to be honest? I want to get it over with as soon as possible." Ruby shrugged.
"I see, will you proceed with your sports career?" Penny smiled, happy to learn more about the other girl.
"Huh? Sports career?" Ruby's eyebrow raised at that question.
"I... Thought that since you played with other boys in a team sports game you really liked it?" It was Penny's turn to be confused. Did she not understand correctly?
"Oh! That." Ruby giggled at that. "Nah, I'm not having any sports career ahead of me. We were just told to join a club in our class, so sports club was the only thing I really wanted to do." The dark-haired girl shrugged. "I didn't know it's just guys over there, but it was sort of too late to back off so I was stuck with them for at least the next year."
"Oh, but you're keeping up with them, no?" After all, they were the same age, and it was already the second year. If anything they were a few months from finishing the third year. The temperature rise was a harsh reminder that each time Penny wore too thick of a coat. Regardless, Ruby would have quit after the first year if things weren't working out for her.
"That's a bit more complicated. I mean so far I am, but the coach told me that I would start to fall off slowly. Not my fault just..." Ruby scratched the back of her head. "You know, the whole difference between how we girls are and how guys end up being. Apparently next year they want to divide the sports club into girls and boys and they gonna make sure to advertise that a lot. He even asked me to be the boss of the girl's group if we end up having enough people."
While Penny understood that, to some degree, it didn't really answer her initial question. "That doesn't explain why you're not thinking about pursuing this past your school days."
"Because it's too much dedication to be serious about it. I mean, Yang sort of forced me at some point to start exercising with her, and well after the whole sports club thing I started doing it more, but it's fun so far. If I wanted to go serious I'd have to make it less fun and force myself to do this or that." Ruby waved her hand dismissively.
"Then what do you plan after school? Since you're so eager to be out of it." Perhaps it was the simplicity of her thoughts and the fact she met Ruby in such specific circumstances, but it felt a bit disappointing to hear that Ruby wasn't, in fact, an upcoming sports celebrity.
"No clue, but I'm sure I'll figure something out." That seemed to be the whole answer after which Penny wasn't sure what to say to that or if there was anything additional to ask for. "What about you?"
That caught her off guard. "Me?" Penny asked and slowed her walk by a tiny bit. "I'm not sure, I don't necessarily possess any skills nor do I like or dislike things that could lead me to any kind of profession in the future."
"Huh? You're kidding me right?" As the distance grew between them a bit, Ruby turned around and began to walk backward as she continued. "You're amazing at math and that can get you anywhere. Like, any place that has numbers. Banks and accounting, physics since all that is just math class under a different name. Like, every place needs numbers, even construction stuff."
Penny never really thought about her future, not that far ahead. Sure, people told her that if she continues to have good grades she'll end up in a good place in life. Would it be really this easy for Penny? Just because of her favorite subject? "To be honest I never thought about what I wanted to do... Or what I could do with what I had."
Ruby eyed her for a moment, before offering a smile. "No need to think too hard about that right now." She shrugged. "How about we have a little detour and go through the park?"
While that made Penny happy, it also was quite suspicious. "You're saying this to postpone our tutoring session."
"Well... Maybe a little? But I won't lie I just wanted to hang out with you and not be drowned in books while doing so." Ruby shrugged again. "We don't have to if you don't want to." Ruby slowed down to let Penny catch up with her. "So, do you want to?" The dark-haired girl asked as she plotted her arms behind her head.
Penny was happy that Ruby wanted to spend time with her, it didn't mean that her responsible side was shut off. No, of course not. The purpose of today was still to try and help Ruby with her math problem. While through her life she helped plenty of people in a similar situation, she heard a lot of excuses to postpone, shorten, or even outright cancel the tutoring sessions. Yet she never heard anyone do so just to... Hang out with her.
Penny didn't want to push her luck and propose to hang out on any other day. If anything, she wanted to avoid getting crushed by having some kind of excuse come from Ruby as to why they couldn't. Besides, they agreed that if Ruby's progress on fixing her grade was determined to be too slow, they could meet up more often. Biting her lower lip, she nodded. "I think it won't hurt if we distract ourselves for a moment."
oooOOOooo
The local park was quite big, huge even. Penny was around a few times, mostly when she was shown around since she herself had little to no reason to visit it. When by herself she preferred to stay inside. From what she understood it was a great place to exercise or have a picnic or just an overall great place to spend a warm day at. Penny wondered if Ruby took Zwei to the park. Surely she did, right?
Even though they got to the park they... Walked past it. Well, not exactly past it, more like along it? Past the entrance, one of them. Or a few. Penny wasn't sure why, it's not like Ruby didn't know they were here. No, it seemed more like Ruby was looking for something. The best entrance perhaps? Maybe a good spot to sit at? While Penny could simply ask, she decided against it. Not because she was shy or nervous. No, for once that wasn't the case. No, the real reason was that she was... Curious. Curious about the thing that Ruby looked for and the only satisfying resolution would be reached through actually finding it, instead of receiving an answer from the dark-haired girl.
"Ah-ha!" Ruby announced as they crossed one of the corners.
At that Penny quickened her steps just to see what was it that Ruby found after all this time. "A truck?" She asked before even realizing she did so out loud.
"Not just any truck! It's an ice cream truck, I knew one was standing around when I was heading to school. Hand grab, come on!" Ruby said and before Penny could even realize what was going on, she felt her hand grabbed and was pulled to run after the other girl.
"R-Ruby!" She called out, and while the silver-eyed girl didn't respond, she did slow slightly. While it wasn't what Penny had in mind, she welcomed the slight change of pace that the more athletic girl set up on her. Soon they were at the truck, which got Penny panting as she bent forward and rested her hands on her knees. "W-Was the truck about to leave?"
"Huh?" Ruby glanced between the truck and Penny. "Nope, doesn't seem so!"
"T-Then why did we ran!?" Penny asked, slowly regaining the ability to breathe normally.
"Because there's nothing better for your appetite than some exercise." Ruby grinned at that. "Huh, seems they have only two flavors since it's from a machine. So which one you want? Vanilla or chocolate?"
"Hmpf..." Penny didn't even have time to be properly annoyed at the small marathon she was forced to have. "I do not carry currency with myself when in school so..."
"I didn't ask you for money, just asked what flavor you prefer?" Ruby asked as she already moved to stand before the small window where she could expect to be serviced.
"But... ah!" Penny fumbled as she wasn't sure what to focus on. Rejecting the offer or the answer, and if it was an answer, which one did she prefer? "V-Vanilla! But it's fine, really, you don't have to." Feeling pressured to answer the question as it seemed in some way time-sensitive, she tried to squeeze in the rejection. Sadly it didn't go as she planned, as she got handed giant ice cream. "Thank you but isn't this a bit... Too big?" If not for the book that was currently under one of her arms, Penny would most likely hold it with both hands.
"Hm?" Ruby tilted her head as she glanced at their treats. "Of course not, it's my first ice cream of the year and you gotta start big and aim higher with every next one!" She announced proudly. While Penny could agree that it was a good motto to go by with some other things in life, she wasn't so sure if it fit into ice cream eating. "But you can just throw it away once you had enough, no reason getting sick over some ice cream."
Penny let out a small sigh, yet even if she was a bit annoyed, she smiled. Because this all seemed genuine. The way Ruby acted towards her, that is. Usually, people were extremely polite and friendly and while she was grateful for that, even she understood that it was fake, partially at least. This? Well, Ruby was just herself it seemed. Or so Penny hoped.
As they finally moved past one of the park's entrance gates, Penny found some courage to confront Ruby about this situation. "You could ask if I wanted some." Penny said, wanting to offer her dissatisfaction over how she was treated in this situation.
"If I did you could say no, and I wanted to get you some, so asking you would go against my plan." Ruby replied calmly as she slowly worked on her ice cream.
"But what if I didn't want any?" Penny decided to be stubborn on this, as she wanted to test how far she could go. Although she wasn't sure who exactly was she testing in this scenario. Ruby or herself.
"You don't like ice cream?" The silver-eyed girl glanced at her.
"I do, but that is not important right now." Even if she wanted to, she couldn't really find any kind of metaphorical footing in this conversation. The only thing she could do is get angry, but then she'd get angry over something so unimportant as ice cream.
"See? And you got some. Look, you're helping me out, right? And I just wanted to do something nice for you in exchange." Ruby moved a bit ahead and turned to face Penny, making sure she'd see her face as she smiled.
Penny simply let out a sigh. "Very well, but you don't have to do anything in return. I am helping you because I like to help others."
"And I like to do nice things to others so it all works out in the end." Ruby nodded. "I know how it is, getting treated and such, but you said it yourself, you don't have any money, and do you think it's fun eating ice cream by yourself while the other person has none? It's not! So I took a gamble and decided that you can't dislike ice cream, I mean come on, who doesn't like ice cream. And here we are."
Penny tilted her head at that. "If you applied this level of thought with your studies, you wouldn't have math problems, you know?"
Ruby groaned at that. "Now you sound like Weiss. Come on, let's find ourselves a bench and finish those off before we head home."
Penny smiled at that. It was only fair, right? Ruby annoyed her so she annoyed her back, although she hoped it wasn't too much. All she could do is to try and learn from Ruby how to be friendly. No, how to be friends with someone. Hopefully, she was doing a good job.
oooOOOooo
The park was quiet at this time. There weren't many people around, most of them were some old folks walking around at their own slow pace, some people with dogs, and some mothers with children of various ages, although most of those children were at single-digit age. Penny offered them all a brief glance, as she didn't want to stare for too long. Perhaps animals got a bit more attention, mostly because they wouldn't mind if someone stared at them. Among all that, She and Ruby sat on a bench, idly observing the surroundings and enjoying their ice cream.
"How about making this a weekly thing?" Ruby broke the silence that lingered between them for a bit now.
"Ice cream?" Penny asked as she glanced at the thing in question.
"Hm? Oh, no, although snacks can be an additional thing too." Ruby giggled. "I mean visiting this park. And hey, if you're worried about our math stuff we can find a different day for it." The dark-haired girl shrugged.
This made Penny pause as she considered it. Of course, the idea of having more time with Ruby made her happy, yet it just... It didn't seem right. "You want to meet once a week?" She asked, making sure she understood correctly.
"Well, considering our math stuff, it would be twice a week." Ruby chuckled as she joked.
"Are you doing this to be nice?" Penny glanced at the other girl.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ruby frowned.
"It just seems like an appointment, while I appreciate the ice cream, you don't have to force yourself to spend time with me." Penny shook her head.
Ruby blinked at that. "What? No! I just thought that since you like your routine so much, I'd offer it to be a weekly thing. All I wanted to say is that I wouldn't mind hanging out with you outside of our math sessions, Penny." Ruby shrugged. "Doesn't have to be weekly or a set in stone every week date or something. Just... You know. Asking if you'd like that?" The athletic girl rubbed the back of her neck.
Just like this, Penny wasn't sure what was going on inside her own mind. This should make her happy, jumping with joy perhaps, yet she couldn't voice that. If anything, it came to a point where she had to try and convince herself that this was indeed a happy thing. Perhaps this was the famous heart against mind fight. Sadly, right now? The mind seemed to have the upper hand. "You really want to spend time with me?"
"Of course I do! Come on now, do you really think I was just acting being nice? I wouldn't drag you to a park if that was the case. I'd probably just like... Lie about having more classes if I wanted to skip on some math time with you." Ruby shrugged.
Penny grasped the edge of the book, considering the treat in her hand, she was too afraid to taint it if she tried to hug it. Perhaps she was bothering Ruby with all of this, yet with her past experiences, she really wanted to be convinced that someone actually would like to spend time with her and doing so on their own volition. "I think I wouldn't mind spending time with you. Although I must warn you, I... Am not very experienced in this kind of social interaction."
Ruby giggled at that. "That's fine, all you have to do is be careful with your sweets around me!" As Ruby said that, she would bite off a chunk of Penny's ice cream. "Delicious." She stated with a grin after licking her lips.
Penny gasped in shock at that. "R-Ruby!" she pouted at the other girl.
"You're free to initiate a counter-attack." As if teasing the girl, Ruby did set out her cone quite close to Penny.
Was this something she was supposed to do? Perhaps that was normal, right? Since Ruby did that, it would be only appropriate for her to do so. Well, perhaps appropriate wasn't the right word. Still, to share food like this it was... Unique, almost bizarre for Penny, yet here she was considering it. "V-Very well! I shall retaliate!" Brushing some of her hair over her ear, she leaned forward to take a bite out of Ruby's ice cream. Although her shy attempt ended up with her simply taking a small lick out of it. As she sat straight up she cleared her throat. "T-There you go." Although hers was but a small "mlem" against the vicious "chomp" that Ruby sported against her ice cream.
Ruby just smirked as she leaned in closer. This surprised Penny as she wasn't sure what exactly to expect. Was this part of the... Of the joke? Since what they just did was a joke, right? As the other girl got closer still, all that Penny could see was her silver eyes. In a way, she felt lost within them, not able to avert her gaze, with her voice caught in her throat. All she could do was to sit there, frozen in place, simply staring back at Ruby. As she got so close that their face almost touched, she whispered. "I'll take that." With that, Penny could feel a finger poke her nose and as Ruby leaned back, she would lick her finger. "You had some on your nose, so I managed to recover some lost ice cream after your brutal counter-attack." The girl giggled.
Penny blinked at that, as she moved her hand to rub any remaining food off of her face. She still felt lightheaded over what occurred just moments ago. In some ways, Penny was starting to think that Ruby was some kind of a magician. A witch maybe? As she always left her feeling something odd after every and each encounter.
"Whoa! Rubes? What are you doing here?" Hearing someone else call out to Ruby made Penny's head jump up and in the direction of the said voice. Coming their way, was a small group.
"Yang? What are you all doing at a park at this hour?" Ruby asked sounding surprised.
"Am asking you the same thing. But to make a short story shorter." Yang, a tall blonde girl, thumbed behind her at the other two girls. "Blake convinced Weiss to use her car to transport the animals. After that, we decided to grab a snack, and since it's easier to find a parking spot near the mall, we decided to cut the walk and go through the park."
"The smell will linger forever." The white-haired girl grumbled.
"Smell or not, you helped quite a few dogs and cats today, I think some smell isn't that big of a price for that." A girl with black hair and a bow in it responded.
As the black and white duo continued their exchange in the background, the blonde girl rolled her eyes and focused on Ruby. "Your turn sis."
"Oh just, you know, enjoying my day with Penny." Ruby nudged the ginger girl and nodded in the direction of the three new girls. "Penny, those are my friends, Weiss and Blake. And this here is Yang, I think I mentioned her before, she's my sister." Ruby paused for a moment before she decided to continue as if something became apparent to her. "I know, this would be a great time to practice what you learned. You know, when you meet someone new on your own?"
"What? Just like that? Out of nowhere?" Penny asked, this was, once more, too much and too quickly. Which in some way started to be the norm when being around Ruby.
"Yeah, try it!" As Ruby cheered her on, it was decided. She was put on the spot and to back off could potentially harm her image. Having no other choice, she decided to focus on her performance, since regrets could come later.
Standing up, she faced all three girls, who now had their eyes on her. That much made Penny regret her decision, but if she backed off now it would just make things worse. They were Ruby's friends, they were the people that Penny was afraid of the most. "I-I'm Penny, it's nice to meet you." She said and very stiffly raised her arm to offer her hand.
Penny wasn't sure if what she saw was right, but all three girls looked past her, maybe at Ruby? And after a split second, their eyes once more focused on her, as they all now wore smiles. "Nice to meet you too Penny, hope my sister isn't too much of a trouble?" Yang was the first to return the handshake. "I'm Yang."
"Blake, nice to meet you." The second was the dark-haired girl, who had less energy behind her smile as she offered her hand.
"Weiss Schnee, yes, of those Schnee. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Last was the white-haired girl, who wore a proud smile, although she seemed friendly. Maybe, after all, she was Ruby's friend and she doubted that Ruby would be friends with bad people.
"Anyway." Yang said once the introduction was done. "You girls want to join us?"
"Nah, we're gonna wrap our little park trip in a moment and head home, we have some math-ing to do." Ruby admitted with a deep sigh.
"Oof, that means you're that tutor Ruby talked about huh? Thanks for helping my little sister out." Yang smiled at Penny.
"It's my pleasure to help." Penny nodded, still a bit startled by the sudden small crowd of people that she was part of.
"We'll be going then, see you later Ruby, it was nice to meet you Penny." Blake said as she was ready to leave.
"Yes, don't let Ruby distract you from your task. She'll do quite a lot to avoid studying." Weiss said as she sent a cold glare towards Ruby.
"Ugh, look, we'll get stuff done. Now stop worrying and go get your food or something." Ruby rolled her eyes as she reached for her bag. "You three have fun."
"See you at home sis!" Yang waved as the three left.
Once out of range, Ruby stood up, stretching and offering a hand to Penny. "Come on, we should be going too. You okay?" Ruby asked as she noticed the blank expression on Penny's face.
"Y-Yes, yes. I am fine." She smiled as her green eyes focused on Ruby, she took her hand and stood up with the other girl's help.
"Sorry about pushing you like that, but... You know, I won't mind if you become friends with my friends. We could all hang out together then." Ruby grinned at the prospect.
Penny simply smiled at that. "If they accept me I would not mind becoming friends with more people."
"Pfsh, of course, they will. I mean you saw them, they're a colorful bunch themselves!" The silver-eyed girl giggled. "Now come on, it's already late, although I'm taking full blame if we don't get much time for you to try and teach me something.
As they started to walk, Penny noticed that their hands never parted. While initially, she wanted to say something to Ruby to inform her about it, she decided against it. Simply smiling as they walked while holding hands.
Perhaps this was the norm when dealing with Ruby. Non-stop craziness. But in a way? Penny didn't mind that. In a way she enjoyed it. While the fear of being rejected by Ruby's friends was still there, she decided to leave those worries for another time. Right now she was holding Ruby's hand, after sharing some ice cream with her and later having to deal with the other girl's math struggles. There was plenty on her mind to focus on right now that was far more pleasant than simply worrying over things she had no hopes of changing.
Author's note:
This story has so far everything that I usually avoid writing. Tai, group scenes, Zwei interactions. Not that I dislike these, I just never know how to bite them and how to make them "correct" if that makes sense. So I hope I didn't butcher any of those so far.
I don't know what else to say. I hope I haven't messed up the mood of this story. Although I'll say that splitting this story into multiple chapters was the right thing to do, considering that I'm done with around 2/4 of it and we're already past the 10k wordmark. I'd hate to post a long essay of a story in a single chapter for people to read.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Tell me how I did with this chapter. If I messed up the Tai scene, if I messed something else up or maybe I'm worrying over nothing and everything was fine.